Are Women Progressing in the Diaspora?

By Gregory Simpkins

Early in March this year as in every year, the world celebrated International Women’s Day, when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic, or political. It was first commemorated in Chicago on May 3, 1908, and brought together an audience of 1,500 women demanding economic and political equality. The next year, a similar gathering was held in New York, and subsequently in Europe. International Women’s Day was officially recognized by the United Nations in 1977. There are a lot of stories told about the progress of women in the 21^st century, but how far is that progress realized?

There are of course increasing examples of successful women: Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Kenyan Nobel Peace winner Wangari Maathai, businesswoman and talk show host Oprah Winfrey, and many others. However, what about the status of the average woman in the Diaspora?

It is not possible to extrapolate how women are treated globally, especially in developing countries, because traditions vary by country, by ethnic group, by religious belief, by economic standing, and by location – either rural or urban. Nevertheless, it has been shown that longstanding traditions have held women in developing countries back and subjected them to treatment based on often outdated beliefs. For example, modern human rights frown upon female circumcision, a relic of the past aimed at ensuring that women who gained no pleasure from sex would keep their bloodlines pure by not having affairs. Women routinely flee countries where such traditions continue to be practiced. Ironically, in my travels, I have seen that it is actually older women, who themselves were subjected to such treatment, which have been its most staunch defenders.

So, women have ascended the ladders in politics, activism, and business generally, but girls still find obstacles to going to school and are encouraged to marry younger and bear children, sometimes before their bodies are completely prepared to do so without complications. What can and should be done to raise the standard of living for women generally and not just the exceptional ones?

A study by the McKinsey Global Institute found that strengthening women’s equality could add US$12 trillion to the global economy by 2025. If followed through, this impact could mean the current combined size of China and the U.S. economies.

Various strategies have been offered. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has proposed a comprehensive strategy to successfully mainstream gender comprising four key pillars:

• The first is to empower country teams with access to relevant data and modeling tools to conduct policy analysis.
• The second is to set up a robust governance framework to ensure that macro-critical aspects of gender are integrated into country work based on an evenhanded approach across members and create a supportive internal organizational structure.
• The third is to establish collaboration with external partners to benefit from knowledge sharing and peer learning. Working closely with other institutions, such as the World Bank Group and UN Women, will be important to enhance the IMF’s efficiency and leverage impact.
• The fourth is to efficiently utilize resources allocated to gender by realizing economies of scale and avoiding duplication of effort.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? If you were dealing with intellectuals and professionals, that just might work. Unfortunately, many women in developing countries, especially those in rural areas who have been denied educational opportunities and financing for even simple agricultural projects, would not benefit from such strategies directly, well-meaning though these suggested approaches are.

How to effectively help women

Foresight Africa 2023 offers more practical suggestions that could apply to women in other developing nations as well, such as:

• Ensuring that cash transfers that protect against poverty are built and designed to promote women’s opportunities, with a focus on digital payments. Ways to address gender inequalities as part of social protection program responses include deliberate efforts to overcome gender gaps in cell phone access by distributing phones to those women who need them, as well as private sector partnerships to subsidize airtime for the poorest and to make key information services and apps freely available. Programs also could make women the default recipient of cash transfer schemes, instead of the head of household. Furthermore, capacity-building initiatives can be built into program design to give women the skills and capabilities needed to successfully manage accounts and financial decision-making.
• Reducing the risk of violence against women. Women who are not safe at home are denied the freedom from violence needed to pursue opportunities that should be afforded to all. In 2018, 10 of the 15 countries with the worst rates of intimate partner violence were in sub-Saharan Africa—in descending order of average intimate partner violence these were, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Madagascar, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Zambia, Ethiopia, Liberia, South Sudan, Djibouti, and Uganda.
• Providing women space and voices in decision-making. This case was powerfully put by former Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson in her Foresight Africa 2022 essay, which underlined that “economic, political, institutional and social barriers persist throughout the continent, limiting women’s abilities to reach high-level leadership positions.” Persistent gender gaps in power and decision-making, not only limit innovative thinking and solutions but also the consideration of more basic measures to avoid the worsening of gender inequalities. Overcoming these gaps in power and decision-making requires safeguarding legal protections and rights, investing in women and girls financially, and opening space for women in political parties so that women have the platforms to access high-level appointed and competitive positions across national, regional, and international institutions.

The thing is, there are still too many male government officials and social leaders who haven’t accepted the value of enhancing the status of women. A study by the McKinsey Global Institute found that strengthening women’s equality could add US$12 trillion to the global economy by 2025. If followed through, this impact could mean the current combined size of China and the U.S. economies. During a roundtable discussion on empowering women’s economic activities, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre, stated that the digital economy is the greatest advantage women have. Business space’s “gender neutral” quality, the leap of e-commerce, and the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) are keys to women’s access to markets that hitherto did not exist, she said.

For two decades now, there has been a legal instrument that guarantees comprehensive rights to women. On 11 July 2003, African leaders, meeting in Mozambique,  adopted what is commonly referred to as the Maputo Protocol.

Among other things, it calls for the elimination of discrimination and harmful practices, political participation, and the protection of women in armed conflict. It is considered a truly progressive initiative by and for Africans. Yet almost two decades later, it is yet to be fully implemented. To date, only 42 of 55 African states have ratified the Maputo Protocol. This has allowed human rights defenders in these countries to use it as a litigation tool. While many courts have been progressive in their application of the Protocol, many governments’ legislative and executive arms have created obstacles to it. Several governments that require parliamentary approval to translate international treaty law into national law have not done so. In sub-Saharan Africa, women hold, on average, just 25 percent of legislative seats.

There has been increased women’s representation in politics in the Caribbean region, but at a slower rate than representation by their male counterparts. The island nations of Dominica, Guyana, St. Lucia, Bermuda, Jamaica, and the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago have been able to elect female heads of government in recent decades.

The extraordinary women who succeed despite the obstacles still arrayed against them should be honored. They have earned their accolades. Still, the mass of women who struggle far more than necessary must be relieved of their undue burdens. No one goes through life untouched by challenges, but women are the glue that holds society together. So, for the sake of these women, their families, their communities, and their countries, solutions must be identified and applied so they can contribute to the greatest extent possible.

Gregory Simpkins, a longtime specialist in African policy development, is the Principal of 21st Century Solutions. He consults with organizations on African policy issues generally, especially in relating to the U.S. Government. He also serves as Managing Director for the Morganthau Stirling consulting firm, where he oversees program development and implementation. He further acts as a consultant to the African Merchants Association, where he advises the Association in its efforts to stimulate an increase in trade between several hundred African Diaspora small and medium enterprises and their African partners.